Yamaha Austria have won the Albacete 8 Hour round of the Endurance FIM World Championship, their third win out of three races this year. In one of the closest races of the year, they finished just 90 seconds ahead of local endurance specialists Folch Yamaha, with the Suzuki monunted Sapeurs Pompiers third, Michelin Power Honda fourth and Yamaha Phase One Endurance fifth. BK Maco Moto had been holding a podium finish position for much of the race, eventually settling for seventh after a rear sprocket failed in the closing stages of the race.

Phase One's Pedro Valcaneras crashed while leading the race in the first hour. No serious damage was done to the bike and he was able to rejoin without pitting, but this dented what had been the British team's most serious challenge this year. Amadeus X One also hit electrical problems while leading in the early stages, with Ayrton Badovini forced to pit and hand the lead to Yamaha Austria.

At the end of the second hour YART were still leading but BK Maco Moto, Folch and the Sapeurs Pompiers were all hot on their tale and on the same lap. Michelin Power Honda crashed out of second place after starting in pole position, and then set a lap-record breaking pace to move into the top four by the end of the third hour.

The safety cars were called out at around 23:30 after RMT21 Honda's motor failed spectacularly and they were forced to retire. There was enough oil on the circuit for the decision to abandon the race two hours early to be discussed, but after 30 minutes under safety car conditions the race was back on.

With two hours to go, it was announced that YART had been given a stop/go penalty for a rule infringement during a pit stop. This would have allowed Folch to take the lead, Maco to move up to second and Michelin Power to third, but the penalty was withdrawn before YART were forced to come in.

Maco Moto mounted a challenge on the leaders in the latter part of the race, but with just forty minutes to go Carrasco was forced to push in with a broken rear sprocket. The Sapeurs Pompiers moved up to third after their careful race and refuelling strategy paid off.

First Superstock team across the line was QERT Suzuki. 19 of just 21 starters finished the race, with only RMT21 and LTG57 recording a DNF. In LTG57's case, this was despite changing a head gasket in just 90 minutes.

Speaking after the race, Yamaha Austria's Gwen Giabbani said, “This was a very hard race. The competition was very strong, especially from Folch Endurance but also from Maco Moto”. Folch's David Checa was happy just to finish the race. “A few more laps and our bike would probably have given up due to some overheating problems”.

Yamaha Austria now hold a very comfortable 48 point championship lead over RT Racing Team. The next race is the Suzuka 8 Hour at the end of the month, but it is still not clear which permanent championship teams will take part in the expensive and competitive Japanese round of the championship.